1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk cartridge for rotatably storing a disc-like disk medium to be used as a recording/replaying medium for an information processing device, or the like, which is capable of preventing ingress of dust and the like, and a drive device with the disk cartridge mounted therein for recording/replaying information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Disc-like disk media such as optical disks and magneto-optical disks have been used, for example, as a portable recording/replaying medium for a computer. According to the disk medium, at a time of recording or reproduction, information can be recorded by pit formation, phase change, magnetization or the like by pigment layer decomposition at a recording surface, by irradiating a laser beam to the recording surface while the medium is being rotated while mounted in a drive device, or the recorded information can be reproduced based on a difference of laser beam reflectance or polarizing angle difference or the like.
Moreover, according to the disk medium, a method of shortening the wavelength of the laser beam to be irradiated to the recording surface has been proposed for improving the recording capacity. When recording/replaying the information using a short wavelength laser beam (such as a blue violet laser), thickness of a covering layer for protecting the disk medium recording surface should be made thin in order to limit laser beam attenuation by the covering layer. When the covering layer thickness is accordingly made thin, a laser beam aperture at a covering layer face of the medium (the surface exposed to the outside) is made smaller, and thus the influence of dust and the like adhering on the covering layer surface becomes unignorable.
Therefore, a disk cartridge storing the disk medium in a case which prevents the adhesion of dust and the like to the disk medium has been adopted. The disk cartridge has a center hole part (center core part) provided at a center part of the disk medium, an opening for exposing a part of the recording surface (the covering layer) to the environment, and a shutter member for opening and closing the opening.
Thus, according to the disk cartridge, when the disk medium is not being used, the opening is closed by the shutter member so as to prevent entrance of dust and the like into the disk cartridge, that is, adhesion of dust and the like to the disk medium. When the disk medium is used, the opening is opened by a mounting operation to the drive device, so as to enable a rotation spindle shaft to hold the center hole part (center core part) and enable approach of the laser head to the recording surface (for irradiation of the laser beam).
However, according to the disk cartridge, since a space for storing the shutter member needs to be provided for when the above-mentioned opening is opened, a problem is involved in that it is difficult to achieve miniaturization of the disk cartridge.
Accordingly, for achieving miniaturization, a disk cartridge with the shutter member divided in two has been proposed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2000-30394. The disk cartridge disclosed therein comprises a first shutter member mainly for closing the opening part that is for inserting (approaching) the laser head, and a second shutter member mainly for closing the opening part that is for inserting the rotation spindle shaft, such that the entirety of the opening is closed with the shutter members having end faces thereof abutted with each other.
At the time of using the disk cartridge (disk medium), it is mounted (inserted) to the drive device. By the mounting operation, a lock release lever disposed in an arm guide groove is released and a movement operation part interlocked with the first shutter member is moved along the arm guide groove so that the first shutter member is rotated to a direction for opening the opening. Moreover, by this rotation, the second shutter member is pressed by a projection part of the first shutter member contacting with an engaging part thereof, so as to be rotated to another direction for opening the opening, which direction is different from that of the first shutter member.
Thus, the first shutter member and the second shutter member can be stored in a storage space substantially corresponding to a projected area of the disc-like disk medium. Therefore, according to this disk cartridge, miniaturization and a thin shape can be achieved while preventing adhesion of dust and the like to the disk medium.
However, in this conventional disk cartridge, dust and the like are adhered to the first shutter member, the second shutter member, the inside of the case cover and the like by, for example, storage in the atmosphere and friction charges generated by opening and closing operations of the opening. When dust and the like enter into the disk cartridge because of the opening and closing operations of the opening by the first shutter member, and the second shutter member so as to adhere on the recording surface of the disk medium, this results in loss of recording/reproduction signals (so-called xe2x80x98dropoutxe2x80x99).
In consideration of the above-mentioned facts, an object of the present invention is to obtain a disk cartridge having a good dustproofing quality and capable of preventing entrance of dust and the like via a shutter member, and a drive device capable of preferably eliminating dust and the like adhered to a disk medium.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk cartridge including: a medium; a case accommodating the medium and having an access opening for exposing the medium to the environment; a cover plate mounted on an outer surface of the case and having an opening corresponding to the access opening; a shutter disposed between the case outer surface and the cover plate for opening and closing the opening of the cover plate and the access opening; and a cleaner disposed between the shutter and at least one of the case outer surface and the cover plate for wiping the shutter.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk cartridge including: a medium; a case accommodating the medium such that the medium is movable between a first position and a second position; and a cleaning member disposed inside the case for wiping off the medium, wherein at the first position the medium surface-contacts the cleaning member, and at the second position the medium is not in contact with the cleaning member.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a drive device to which a disk cartridge is detachably mountable, the disk cartridge including a medium, a case accommodating the medium such that the medium is movable between a first position and a second position, and a cleaning member disposed inside the case for wiping off the medium, at the first position the medium surface-contacting the cleaning member and at the second position the medium being not in contact with the cleaning member, the drive device including: a shift mechanism engageable with the medium of the mounted disk cartridge and capable of moving the medium between the first position and the second position; and a rotating mechanism capable of rotatably driving the medium at each of the first position and the second position.